


I Had That Dream Again

by Thedupshadove



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: Angst, Dreams, Memories, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 04:13:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25308064
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thedupshadove/pseuds/Thedupshadove
Summary: In the wake of the Prentiss attack, the men of the Archive start having dreams, but not the ones they might have reasonably expected.
Relationships: Martin Blackwood/Sasha James/Jonathan "Jon" Sims | The Archivist/Tim Stoker
Comments: 1
Kudos: 38





	I Had That Dream Again

Jon wakes, rubs his eyes, tries to shake himself out of the by-now-familiar dream. 

Ever since going back to work after the Prentiss attack, he’s been having it more nights than not. He dreams that he’s lying on a bed, surrounded by his three assistants. They’re snuggled close together, and even beyond the way one Just Knows things in dreams, it’s clear from context that this situation is romantic in nature. Tim has thrown an arm protectively over his waist, Martin is nuzzling his face into his hair, and Sasha...actually it’s odd. He knows Sasha is there: can hear her breathing and feel the presence of a body that he knows is hers. But any time he tries to twist himself around to face her, he finds that he can’t get a good look. Nevertheless, the dream is saturated with a feeling that this is good. That this is right. That he is safe, and happy, and loved, and _in_ love. That’s what makes it so disconcertingly difficult to pull himself out of it in the morning. 

And it certainly is disconcerting, to spend his days with the knowledge that any of these people may be trying to kill him while so many nights are given over to gentle raptures at their phantom presence. And in any case, where did these dreams _come_ from? It’s true that he thinks he half-remembers nursing certain….feelings….but he’s quite certain he’s never acted on them. That would have been distinctly inappropriate, considering he was technically their boss, and now with the revelation of the nature of Gertrude’s death it’s moved from inappropriate to downright dangerous, not to mention that now Sasha’s got this Tom (a name that always raises a stab of anger in his gut that he can’t explain). If he accepts, as he now very much has to, that there are supernatural forces which can effect human thought and behavior, and that some humans can learn to bend these powers to their own ends….could whoever killed Gertrude have sent him these dreams, in an attempt to make him lower his guard? It seems a trifle far-fetched, but it’s not impossible. Well, whatever the source of them, he has to be sure that the dreams don’t lead him to drop his guard. Any one of them might be a murderer, and he cannot afford to forget that. Especially not with the feeling always in the back of his mind:

_Something’s wrong._

*

Tim sighs, and rolls himself out of bed. Another night, another dream of getting cuddly with his three co-workers. Or rather, his two co-workers and his immediate boss. 

His increasingly paranoid jerk of an immediate boss. 

It’s getting more and more frustrating to deal with Jon every day. Oh, Martin can go on and on about how he’s “been through a lot” and is “still under stress”, but damn it, did he forget that the rest of them lived through Prentiss too? Maybe he did forget. Maybe he thinks Tim deliberately let Prentiss in, and that’s why he keeps giving him those looks. 

So in any case, it’s decidedly strange to spend all day gritting his teeth through Jon’s bullshit, only to fall asleep and find himself hugging the little man close like some kind of teddy bear. Makes more sense that he’d dream that about Martin and Sasha, though of course nothing’s going to come of that. Not with Martin so clearly pining after Mister Prickly, and Sasha full of giddy new love for that Tom ( _Fucking Tom_ , comes a flash of a thought that he doesn’t think to question). So it’s probably better if he doesn’t dwell on Dreamland Cuddles too closely. He’ll go into work today, and he’ll….he’ll do his best to be friendly to Jon. Try to bring him out of his shell, like he used to before. And maybe that will do some good, and Jon won’t continue to be an arsehole. Yeah, and maybe Martin will produce his secret Nobel Prize. Likely as not Jon’s just going to continue to glower and mutter to himself. Because ever since the damned Worm Woman burst through the Institute….

_Something’s changed._

*

Martin is sorely tempted to hit the snooze button and hope that falling back asleep will keep that sweet dream going a little longer. It’s some of the happiest time he has now, reveling in the steady breathing and warm presence of the rest of the Archive staff; in a place where love surrounds him and he knows that he is valued. It makes it all the harder to deal with the real Institute, where it seems like they’re splintering further and further apart by the day. 

He knows that Jon’s dealing with a lot of difficult stuff right now, but that doesn’t make it any easier to watch him pull further and further into himself, staring out at the others with increasingly undisguised suspicion. And Heaven knows Tim’s got a right to be frustrated with this, but it still breaks Martin’s heart to see him get closer and closer to giving up on Jon altogether. Even Sasha seems more distant than he swears he can remember her being—not exactly rude or cross, but less likely to start conversations. Maybe she’s just distracted with thoughts of Tom (and why does he rankle every time he thinks of Tom, anyway? He has never met Tom). He wants them to be closer, He wants them to be happy. He wants, he wants….but the exact nature of what he wants slips away from him even as he tries to articulate it. But as he bundles himself into his clothes and gets ready to head out the door, the thought pops into his head,

_Something’s missing._

*

The entity frequently referred to as The Not-Them stares at itself in the mirror of Sasha James’ flat and contemplates what it sees. It knows that the disguise doesn’t really matter—those around it will accept it anyway—but it often finds itself doing this on the rare occasion when it second-guesses the exact nature of how it has fitted itself into its victim’s life. 

In this case, it’s pondering whether it should have allowed the four-way relationship to continue, stepping into it rather than editing it out of the memories of all relevant parties. But it’s pretty sure it made the right decision. Trying to maintain something like that might have stretched even its impersonation capabilities, and besides, it needs the Tom cover story as a plausible reason to keep up its visits back to base. Not to mention that it simply doesn’t _want_ to have to play lovey-dovey with those three idiots. 

Still, the Eye is a damned slippery thing, and often unpredictable. It isn’t likely to appreciate one of its strongest base of power being infiltrated, and who knows what ways it might find to warn its servants that something is amiss.


End file.
